Do you concentrate on one style of turning or several?

[David Wyke]

I’ve seen turners who do one style of turning be it bowls, artistic, hollow forms, lidded vessel's, or other items. I know that specializing in one or two areas of turning helps develop the skill needed to master the particular form you chose to turn. I have seen many turners who are well known for doing one type of turning.
Myself, I started turning bowls and knew a few turners who would try turning several different things and never concentrate in one area. They always told me to turn this or that but my reply was I need to master the basic bowl first before I try something different. I’m of course my worst critic and would always see a flaw in a bowl I turned. I even did a couple videos of me turning green bowls for twice turning and had someone ask why I put so much detail in the green bowl when I was going to turn it again when dry. My reply was I’m practicing my form and technique. I shear scrapped, did pull cuts, practiced body movement, and did small detail cuts. This helped me develop the skill and tool control I needed to improve my final turning of a bowl.
I love turning the basic bowl and have now decided to try and master the hollow form even though I’m still not a master of the basic bowl, but a lot better than when I started. I have no desire to do pins, segmented, or basket illusion bowls, however I do love the looks of all three of these.
Now I want to do more artistic work with bowls and hollow forms and it will take practice and time to develop these skills.
So I basically want to do bowls, hollow forms, and artistic turnings.
The question is can someone master the skills necessary for several different disciplines/styles in wood turning or do you need to concentrate on just one?

 

[David Croxton]

Hey David, first and foremost - you do really nice work and your practice with technique shows in every piece you've posted. That said, in my humble opinion - turning and any other type of art form is a journey --- style and artistry evolve when you try new techniques. A mentor once said to me, "if you're not turning - you're not learning"! I think it is really great to learn & perfect a style or skill with a certain tool or technique --- to become a master at it --- but what is next? Do you continue to make the same thing over & over? That might be enough for some- but --- is that enough for you? -Does a certain part of your being want t to strive to do more? It is natural to build on past experience & abilities - to stretch the boundaries of what you've learned & once thought impossible in your work. Continue to gain new skills and try to master them, incorporate them & continue to evolve and refine your artistic voice. You never know when a particular technique will come in handy or when a skill you've' learned will cross over & be useful in an unexpected way. Obviously, your talent and skill will lead you - if you let it ...

 

[hockenbery]

The question is can someone master the skills necessary for several different disciplines/styles in wood turning or do you need to concentrate on just one?

Absolutely!
When you look at the well know turners many are known for a few shapes.
Others have a lots of series. Michael Hosulak, mark sfirri, Christian Burchard are good examples of folks with lots of different work.
Trent Bosch has a dozen or so shapes.

You are having success with what you are doing. You choose nice blanks and turn pleasing forms.
You are good at it and People are paying you to get better. Nice comfort zone.

The trick to creativity is getting comfortable in leaving your comfort zone.
Outside the comfort zone You have success and failure…
The successes are sooooo sweet.


I advise newer turners to do 6-12 of each general object before they move to something else.

Turning a 1/2 dozen spheres is a good foundation to doing more individualized work.
For me one thing led to another. The skills and knowledge gained applied to make new things.


I started with pens, ornaments, and bowls. Then I mostly did hollow forms. Then one thing led to another..

 

[odie]

I am a turner whom I'm confident others see me as someone who only does one thing. From viewing my works, that's an easy assessment.

You'd have to consider what I do using my experiences to know that my skills have progressed continually over the past 42 years.....and, this progress is what keeps me from being bored.....or worse......becoming completely bat-sxxt crazy!. (That might be debatable to those who don't walk in my shoes......but nonetheless, I am totally focused, and loving where I am in my woodturning journey!)

These days, I pursue my woodturning at the same energy level that I did forty years ago, because it's the process that has my attention and keeps my enthusiasm strong. It's not a matter of what I produce, but how I produce it. Even though my bowls may look all the same to the eye, how they're done is in a continuing state of evolution.......little things, one-by-one are changing. Over time it's very apparent to those who are familiar with the work I was doing ten, twenty, thirty, or forty years ago, that there is a definite visible evolutionary process going on.

I wouldn't try to convince anyone else to pursue woodturning as I do.....or life for that matter.....but, to me it's obvious that I am the only one who can logically and knowledgeably assess what my turning journey has benefited me.....because I'm the only one here who has a clear understanding of what was, and what is. (In other words, I have a rear view mirror, and nobody but me can look in this mirror.....but me!)

-o-

 

[Gabriel Hoff]

I’ve seen turners who do one style of turning be it bowls, artistic, hollow forms, lidded vessel's, or other items. I know that specializing in one or two areas of turning helps develop the skill needed to master the particular form you chose to turn. I have seen many turners who are well known for doing one type of turning.
Myself, I started turning bowls and knew a few turners who would try turning several different things and never concentrate in one area. They always told me to turn this or that but my reply was I need to master the basic bowl first before I try something different. I’m of course my worst critic and would always see a flaw in a bowl I turned. I even did a couple videos of me turning green bowls for twice turning and had someone ask why I put so much detail in the green bowl when I was going to turn it again when dry. My reply was I’m practicing my form and technique. I shear scrapped, did pull cuts, practiced body movement, and did small detail cuts. This helped me develop the skill and tool control I needed to improve my final turning of a bowl.
I love turning the basic bowl and have now decided to try and master the hollow form even though I’m still not a master of the basic bowl, but a lot better than when I started. I have no desire to do pins, segmented, or basket illusion bowls, however I do love the looks of all three of these.
Now I want to do more artistic work with bowls and hollow forms and it will take practice and time to develop these skills.
So I basically want to do bowls, hollow forms, and artistic turnings.
The question is can someone master the skills necessary for several different disciplines/styles in wood turning or do you need to concentrate on just one?

Yes, you definitely can! It just may take more time to master more subjects, then just working on one. Of course, like @odie I tend to concentrate on one subject, but do like to turn other items, such as bowls, segmenting, and ornaments. But I will say, I am not as good on these subjects as I am on my lidded boxes.

BUT, given time and concentration on any particular area, I could master any of these skills, I just need time and maybe someone who knows more about them to teach me!

So, give your artistic bowl challenge a try!

 

[R Henrickson]

...
The question is can someone master the skills necessary for several different disciplines/styles in wood turning or do you need to concentrate on just one?

I think that different 'genres' of turning may emphasize somewhat differently balanced skill sets, but skills developed in one area can definitely improve results in others. Through the years I have turned in a variety of 'disciplines' while pursuing what interests me. I started by turning bowls and hollow forms for a number of years, but now do mostly multiaxis and spindle turning. During the covid shutdown, I concentrated heavily on complex spindles, turning hundreds (probably several thousand?) for use in constructing spindle lattices and 3D structures (and Windsor chairs). Since then I have found that my basic overall turning skills hve considerably improved. Cuts whether for multiaxis work, or bowls and hollow forms and platters, are cleaner and more precise, whether with bowl or spindle gouges. I suppose how you define 'mastery' may affect your interpretation.

 

[Dave Landers]

I say it doesn't matter if you're doing one thing or lots of things. And it doesn't matter if you do one thing then another, or lots of different things all at once.
Do enough to develop your skill, but then do whatever satisfies your soul.

 

[Kent Reisdorph]

I am going through a similar thought process. I turn bowls. I've done some hollow forms, but only a handful. I don't have a hollowing system or visualizer, so it's a trial and error process. I see the artistic pieces and one of two thoughts generally pop into my head. It's either, "Nope, no way I'm doing that much work" (and don't have the skills anyway) or "That's cool, I could make that." I'll try some artsy pieces at some point. Like you, David, I have no interest in basket illusions, pens, or segmentation. I doubt I ever will. Frankly, I don't like most segmented pieces I see. I respect the work that goes into them, though. To each his own.

 

[Mark Jundanian]

I agree with the responses you've already received .

 

[Michael Anderson]

Like Bob (R Hen..) mentioned above, skills transfer, so as long as you're turning your overall skill level will increase. Of course specializing will help develop muscle memory for certain tasks and make the overall process easier and more efficient. I think it's also beneficial to have a few things to go back and forth on so that you can help prevent stagnating.

I focus on a few different forms (ex. eggs, calabash varieties, hearts), but really I'm focusing on perfect curves. That translates to whatever form I'm chasing, and then it's just a matter of refining to taste or tradition. Beyond that, adding other skills allows your mind to wander--carving, pyrography, painting, etc... are their own rabbit holes, but I've found that the larger your toolkit the easier it is to stay motivated and engaged with the current and future project. The better and more efficient you can be (approaching mastery) the more fun something is. So, step out of the comfort zone and try it all at least once. You never know what "thing" will spark an idea.

 

[odie]

A comment about basket illusion turning.....

I can't pinpoint it for sure, but I believe is must have been about 15-20 years ago that I first saw a basket illusion bowl. From those early attempts to now, the evolution of these bowls has been simply amazing! Originally, they were an attempt to duplicate, or at least, compliment the works of our American Indian heritage......but now......they have evolved to works of art that have gone far beyond that.

-o-

 

[hockenbery]

A comment about basket illusion turning.....

I can't pinpoint it for sure, but I believe is must have been about 15-20 years ago that I first saw a basket illusion bowl. From those early attempts to now, the evolution of these bowls has been simply amazing! Originally, they were an attempt to duplicate, or at least, compliment the works of our American Indian heritage......but now......they have evolved to works of art that have gone far beyond that.

-o-

Certainly a path chosen by many!

The vendor marketing of beading tools, pyrography tips, indexing wheels, and coloring tips has made it easy for for folks to get into the basket of illusions. Several of my club members have gotten quite good at it. It’s a bit tedious for me.
The basket of illusion gives turners a creative power expression. By using their turning skills and a sort of paint by numbers layout they can put pictures on drab wood.


David Nittman, who passed away a few years ago, was the first I saw doing the Basket illusion and I believe it was his invention.
The Summer 2001 AAW journal documents his methods.
While the beads are similar to the coil baskets I remember David’s patterns to be geometric patterns he came up with.
The copies of Native American designs came later.


I got to know David a bit. Just a great person to be around..
Tom Wirsing did this tribute.

 

[David Wyke]

Hey David, first and foremost - you do really nice work and your practice with technique shows in every piece you've posted. That said, in my humble opinion - turning and any other type of art form is a journey --- style and artistry evolve when you try new techniques. A mentor once said to me, "if you're not turning - you're not learning"! I think it is really great to learn & perfect a style or skill with a certain tool or technique --- to become a master at it --- but what is next? Do you continue to make the same thing over & over? That might be enough for some- but --- is that enough for you? -Does a certain part of your being want t to strive to do more? It is natural to build on past experience & abilities - to stretch the boundaries of what you've learned & once thought impossible in your work. Continue to gain new skills and try to master them, incorporate them & continue to evolve and refine your artistic voice. You never know when a particular technique will come in handy or when a skill you've' learned will cross over & be useful in an unexpected way. Obviously, your talent and skill will lead you - if you let it ...

Thank you! I agree with this and really love your basket illusion, it is an Art to create those. That’s basically what I want to do, build on the skill and apply it to different turnings.

 

[David Wyke]

Absolutely!
When you look at the well know turners many are known for a few shapes.
Others have a lots of series. Michael Hosulak, mark sfirri, Christian Burchard are good examples of folks with lots of different work.
Trent Bosch has a dozen or so shapes.

You are having success with what you are doing. You choose nice blanks and turn pleasing forms.
You are good at it and People are paying you to get better. Nice comfort zone.

The trick to creativity is getting comfortable in leaving your comfort zone.
Outside the comfort zone You have success and failure…
The successes are sooooo sweet.


I advise newer turners to do 6-12 of each general object before they move to something else.

Turning a 1/2 dozen spheres is a good foundation to doing more individualized work.
For me one thing led to another. The skills and knowledge gained applied to make new things.


I started with pens, ornaments, and bowls. Then I mostly did hollow forms. Then one thing led to another..
View attachment 66430

I do see many turners doing different shapes and those who only seem to do one style. I actually like leaving my comfort zone, it’s the only way to learn and grow.

 

[David Wyke]

I am a turner whom I'm confident others see me as someone who only does one thing. From viewing my works, that's an easy assessment.

You'd have to consider what I do using my experiences to know that my skills have progressed continually over the past 42 years.....and, this progress is what keeps me from being bored.....or worse......becoming completely bat-sxxt crazy!. (That might be debatable to those who don't walk in my shoes......but nonetheless, I am totally focused, and loving where I am in my woodturning journey!)

These days, I pursue my woodturning at the same energy level that I did forty years ago, because it's the process that has my attention and keeps my enthusiasm strong. It's not a matter of what I produce, but how I produce it. Even though my bowls may look all the same to the eye, how they're done is in a continuing state of evolution.......little things, one-by-one are changing. Over time it's very apparent to those who are familiar with the work I was doing ten, twenty, thirty, or forty years ago, that there is a definite visible evolutionary process going on.

I wouldn't try to convince anyone else to pursue woodturning as I do.....or life for that matter.....but, to me it's obvious that I am the only one who can logically and knowledgeably assess what my turning journey has benefited me.....because I'm the only one here who has a clear understanding of what was, and what is. (In other words, I have a rear view mirror, and nobody but me can look in this mirror.....but me!)

-o-

Odie your work is very impressive and you can see the skill and dedication to quality. I really like your turnings.

 

[David Wyke]

To everyone that has replied, thank you!
I have looked at all of your media post and many others on this site. It is a little intimidating to see the skill each one of you possess. I constantly try to improve on my skill and design with each turning. I have a true passion to learn and try different things and realize repetition is going to increase my skill level. I was interviewed one time and I told the interviewer that I thought build furniture as a hobby was want I wanted to do until I turned my first bowl. It changed everything and I have not build a piece since.
I guess the issue with concentrating in one area was derived from listing to some famous turners who said pick one area of turning. I visit every art gallery I find and see the same work in each one from some turners and wondered if they followed this same advise. I visit their website and everything looks very similar. Nothing wrong with that, I think it’s great.
I want to do several different styles of turning and I want to be very good at each. To here you guys say it can be done, considering the level of turning you do, means a lot to someone like me who wants to excel at a craft he loves.
Much respect to all of you and the level of work you produce!

 

[hockenbery]

I actually like leaving my comfort zone, it’s the only way to learn and grow.

There are lots of ways to branch out so to speak.
I found that if I had a direction or goal I could find a path to move me there.

If you have a concept of something to make - start trying to make it. Make protypes, make parts. I wanted to make a globe.
Pyrography got some ok results but I had to get a whole lot better at pyrography. So I discovered sandcarving.


You can also do runs of skill building objects. One thing that helped me a lot was early on I decided to make about 30 gifts of hollow ball Christmas ornaments. The first hollow balls looked more like sick footballs. The finials were crude. The later ones were getting there. It developed into an annual production run that bought a ONEWAY 1018. Got invited to demo, Taught making them in workshops. The finials built tool control and skills with skew and Spindle gouge. The hollow balls really improved my curve creation and basic hollowing. Both improved my shaping by eye.

Like something you see by another turner. Copy a few. Then transition into something that is yours.
I saw Soren Berger turn a scoop. I copied his demo piece. Then decided to make a 2 handled scoop but before I turned it I made it larger ball and tiny handles. This began the suspended spherical forms.

Have fun, be safe

 

[Pat Cogdal]

My background before entering into the many faceted world of turning was mixed media sculpture and installation art so focus has never been my strong suit. My most recent piece “Safe” I had to learn how to cut a dodecahedron on the table saw, then learn that was very scary and then adapted that technique to the bandsaw, then learn to hand chase threads because I wasn’t enjoying the threading jig I built and then do 4 or 5 versions of the piece until I settled on a winner for me. In the end I have a studio full of opportunities to improve upon and I’m ready for the next iteration. I always have 4-5 projects going and practice bowl turning, sphere turning, free hand eggs, hollow forming and spindle turning on the regular. Perhaps I should focus on “mastering” one but I have a studio full of lathes and tools and a head full of ideas and I’m having an awfully good time 😂.

 

[Phil Hamel]

If you have been anywhere near the gallery you know I'm all over the place!
Still trying to find what I like to turn.
I do love making plates and boxes. Have 9 or 10 plates and around 40 boxes made so far.
Still. I like making the weird stuff too!

 

[Mark Fairchild]

David, like yourself, once I turned my 1st bowl I was hooked. Started inlaying tooled leather into them and did that for a while. Made my first hollow form and did that for a while. Bounced around between bowls and hollow forms until 6 months ago. Basket illusion. Hit me like a truck. Will I go back to turning other things? You bet. But my focus is on BI for the foreseeable future.
You are a very talented wood turner. It shows in your work. I feel your pain about being your worst critic. I resemble that remark. Nothing is good enough. Always something to learn and do better. I don’t have an answer for you but my guess is you will land on your feet. If something strikes your fancy, I say give it a go. Life is short, enjoy the ride.
Maybe look at it this way. When you were building furniture and decided to turn a bowl, what if you stopped yourself and said, “I need to master furniture first.”

 

[David Wyke]

David, like yourself, once I turned my 1st bowl I was hooked. Started inlaying tooled leather into them and did that for a while. Made my first hollow form and did that for a while. Bounced around between bowls and hollow forms until 6 months ago. Basket illusion. Hit me like a truck. Will I go back to turning other things? You bet. But my focus is on BI for the foreseeable future.
You are a very talented wood turner. It shows in your work. I feel your pain about being your worst critic. I resemble that remark. Nothing is good enough. Always something to learn and do better. I don’t have an answer for you but my guess is you will land on your feet. If something strikes your fancy, I say give it a go. Life is short, enjoy the ride.
Maybe look at it this way. When you were building furniture and decided to turn a bowl, what if you stopped yourself and said, “I need to master furniture first.”

Thank Mark! I’m just continuously trying to improve and don’t want to get too many different styles of turning started. It was just many of the turners I talked to at art shows told me to concentrate on one style.
I really like the basket illusion and have watched several long videos on them. I bought a beading tool and put four beads on a bowl and said, “no”, need to master the other skills first😁.
I’m going to concentrate on bowls, hollow forms, and start slow with artistic pieces and embellishments.

 

[robo hippy]

Some say why turn bowls when you can turn spindles. Others say why turn spindles when you can turn bowls.... I went straight to bowls after my second or third spindle, and still do mostly bowls. I do experiment a bit with shapes, but still prefer a gentle curve to the outside. I do some boxes too. I do not care for overly ornate things. Keep it simple for me.

robo hippy

 

[Alan Weinberg]

Round and brown for me. I love turning. Bowls and hollow forms are all I want to do. Don’t want to embellish, burn, pierce, or carve, and no spindle work, but maybe will learn to color some eventually. Now if only I could find someone who loves to sand . . .

 

[Bill Boehme]

David Nittman, who passed away a few years ago, was the first I saw doing the Basket illusion and I believe it was his invention.

@hockenbery

Lincoln Seitzman started working on the concept a decade or so earlier than David Nittmann. Initially, Lincoln's basket illusions were segmented, but then he went to a much more realistic basket illusion using beading and pyrography. His work very accurately modeled the weaving pattern of a coiled basket whereas David Nittmann's work was more "big-picture" oriented using radial lines to create the segments.

 

[Tom Gall]

@hockenbery

Lincoln Seitzman started working on the concept a decade or so earlier than David Nittmann. Initially, Lincoln's basket illusions were segmented, but then he went to a much more realistic basket illusion using beading and pyrography. His work very accurately modeled the weaving pattern whereas David Nittmann's work was more "big-picture" oriented using radial lines to create the segments.

Wow, that's a name from the past. We were both members of the NJ Designer Craftsmen organization back in the late '80's & early '90's. I was a relatively new turner (I did mostly jewelry boxes at the time) and was very impressed with Lincoln's work.

 

[Bob Sheppard]

I remember Lincoln Seitzman. I used to belong to the woodturning chapter that met at the YWCA in Manhattan, NYC. He'd bring in one of his basket illusions and I was astounded at the detail in his pieces. And he turned it all on a ShopSmith lathe.

 

[Paul May]

I am in the minority here....I mostly do segmented work. I embellish first and turn after.

 

[Russ Braun]

I like trying different kinds of segmenting, embellishing and now chunk turning. Part of my issue is I want to do different things, less rinse and repeat. I love segmenting but often don’t stop there. I look at Malcolm Tibbetts and Jerry Bennett and see inspiration as they embrace their own evolution and move forward with new challenges….cutting edge stuff! If you want to have fun, take a look at Tom Hale’s instagram site! Now there’s a place that full of inspiration! There’s seemingly dozens of pieces under construction for months and years! Imagine going out into the shop and never be challenged coming up with something to do….that would be a great world to live in!

 

[Doug Freeman]

Master “face mount” (x-grain) and “spindle mount” (end grain) and you can turn about anything. Hollow forms and tools are another animal to master.

I like to turn various forms, both x and end grain. When trying something new to me I’ll do 3-5 separate pieces, expecting to make some mistakes. Its a learning experience.

 

[Brian Gustin]

Me, after another day of roughing out bowl blanks to shrink down my wood pile, I have come to the realization that for me, bowl turning from green just isn't the enjoyment it used to be (Getting boring) and thus have been just powering through the blanks and tossing all my partial logs with defects (Crappy wood) - have a whole 3' x 8' x 2' trailer load (an old rusted out single snowmobile hauler that I salvaged the axle & suspension and built a wood trailer) full of wood & scraps to haul to the big burn pile.. and barely made a dent in my wood stash

- I've found that I more enjoy (and sell better) the smaller stuff, and segmented stuff that I can generally rely on getting the shape I envision out of it (about 35% of my cured rough turned bowls never turn out the way I originally planned)

- So I'm moving more towards segmenting (I got a wedgie sled and have dabbled a bit and really enjoyed it) and smaller items (ornamentals, boxes, etc) and regular woodwork projects (I found I really like doing hand tooled projects shaker style smaller furniture, etc. - I don't have shop or bench space for large furniture really, nor do i have the strong back for lifting and maneuvering large bulky stuff) .. so once I get my shop cleanout finished (Probably another dozen rough turned bowls to do) I'll probably be focusing more on the "smalls" and Segmented stuff for turnings.. So I have found that over time your style is gonna evolve to things you more enjoy, until you no longer enjoy that particular style any more - doing the same thing over and over can get boring eventually...

 

[john lucas]

I turn a little of everything. I haven't done a cowboy hat yet but at least one of almost everything else.

 

[Dave Landers]

about 35% of my cured rough turned bowls never turn out the way I originally planned

This is one of my problems ("challenges") too - I rough things out with some shape/form in mind... but a year later I have no idea what I was thinking of.

 

[Vincent Vogel]

This is one of my problems ("challenges") too - I rough things out with some shape/form in mind... but a year later I have no idea what I was thinking of.

I've started to write with a pencil on the item what it's intended purpose is so I don't forget because I have the same problem. As far as what I turn, I'm all over the map because I like to try new things but mainly do bowls and pepper mills.

 

[john lucas]

This is one of my problems ("challenges") too - I rough things out with some shape/form in mind... but a year later I have no idea what I was thinking of.

Me too Dave. 😀

 

[Lou Jacobs]

I've started to write with a pencil on the item what it's intended purpose is so I don't forget because I have the same problem.

I just picked up a 13” cherry bowl blank that I had written “slow” on a couple of years ago. I think I saw some kind of defect and was trying to caution my future self to watch out for it. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why I wrote that. I turned it with no problems. Need to be more specific I guess.

 

[Bill Boehme]

This is one of my problems ("challenges") too - I rough things out with some shape/form in mind... but a year later I have no idea what I was thinking of.

That's nothing. I can't remember what I intended to do the next day even if I write a note on the unfinished chunk of wood mounted on the lathe.

I just picked up a 13” cherry bowl blank that I had written “slow” on a couple of years ago. I think I saw some kind of defect and was trying to caution my future self to watch out for it. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why I wrote that. I turned it with no problems. Need to be more specific I guess.

As it applies to me, the word "slow" is where my head resides.

 

[hockenbery]

Slow

written “slow” on a couple of years ago.

is relative. A couple years is slow!😊

A decade is slower.

About 8 years ago I had the “winning” ( sure) peppermill design idea for a club contest
I did a proof of concept prototype with a hidden crush grind with junk wood.
Got the parts turned and fitted.

Then some time stealing events kept me from finishing the parts and assembly.
Even missed the meeting.

The contest was the motivation. Maybe someday? But not tomorrow.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

My turning is all over the place but like doing hollow forms and platters. Don't have too much memory problems with a turned item but do forget all those plans for embellishment I want to try. I do have a photo file of future projects or shapes but I do not think I have even done one.

 

[Darryl Fective]

I'm all over the place. I enkoy green wood, but I'm starting to do more with drier wood. I should be coring more blanks before my woodpile rots, but I got distracted with some small square tiles. I really enjoy trying out new stuff.

 

[Ernesto Aquino]

David, I used always to say... try something at least two to three times before you give up. But more recently, after going to the Glen Lucas School of Woodturning, I have calmed down a bit and I am doing more well-shaped (at least in my humble opinion) bowls.